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Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan -- the new Men's Doubles World Champion!!

Even I was a little bit surprised of their quick rise to become the World Champion, considering that they won their first title (the 4* ABC) only in September 2005

Snippets of my own comments on Kido/Hendra achievementsAfter winning the ABC in September 2005...their very first GP title (4*):
A real good win against the higher-ranked Jung/Lee. Congrats to Markis/Hendra in getting their first ever WGP title. This win further confirm their reputation as Indonesia's no 3 double pair after Candra/Sigit and Luluk/Alven. I hope Flandy/Eng Hian retire soon and this will enable Hendra/Joko (who have performed well in Hyderabad) to gain more experience and go up the ranking table. They should now be in the top 25. Hopefully, they will be in the top 10 in a year or so.

After winning the Indonesia Open, also in September 2005, their first 6* title:
I am glad that they show their true potential by winning two back-to-back tournaments. Along the way, they have beaten several top pairs, including no 6 ranked Jung Jae Sung/Lee Jae Jin (whom I reckon will be their biggest threat to be world no 1 in the coming years), former world champions and world no 1 Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto, world no 3 Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen, and world no 11 Tan Bin Shen/Ong Soon Hock.

I watched the match just now and was impressed by the sheer attacking power of the young duo. Candra/Sigit (who were normally good in defense) simply could not respond in the first and last set. I also agree with your comment that this young pair has more prospect than Luluk/Alven. Both are only 21 years old...(at least 3 years younger than Luluk/Alven) and along with Hendra Gunawan/Joko Riyadi (23/20), I rate these two pairs as Indonesia's main double pairs in the coming years to come. Hendra/Joko is slowly moving up and will be ranked no 25 by next week

After winning the SEA Games Individual Event in December 2005:
Anyway, congrats to Markis/Hendra. 3 titles this year, with creditable wins over all their seniors. They have yet proven that they can take the no 1 double spot in the near future. Let's hope they are more consistent next year. I have great hopes for them. Next year, their focus will be to break into the top 5 and win some big titles.

As for Markis/Hendra, I strongly disagree with breaking them up. They are still 21 and I am certainly happy with their achievement this year. The key is to maintain the consistency. They certainly have the attacking edge, what they need is to play smartly and not to attack mindlessly. They have beaten most of the top 10 pair (except maybe for Fu/Cai and Eriksen/Hansen) this year and they will definitely be a world class pair in 1-2 years time. A couple of 5-6* titles will be required of them

After winning the Hong Kong Open in 2006 (also a 6* title):EXCELLENT! Kido/Hendra start to show why they should be Team Indonesia's no 1 pair now with a semi-final finish in Korea Open and a gold in the Hong Kong Open. They have defeated some of the top pairs including the top two seeds for the WC (Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae and Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah), a former world champion in Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen, Gan Teik Chai/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (ranked 10), Kristoff Hopp/Ingo Kindervater (ranked 19) and two scratch pairings in Guo Zhendong/Xu Chen and Sudket Prapakamol/Songpol Anukritayawan. Unfortunately, Kido/Hendra won't be in the top 8 seeds for the WC. They miss out on the last one to their compatriot Luluk/Alvent by only 45 points! Still, I am encouraged by their progress and they should go far. With a good draw, I will expect them to reach at least the quarter-final at the WC.

After winning the China Open and Invitational World Cup consecutively
This year, it happens that they win all their three titles in the Greater China region. However, they have a good record in the Indonesia Open and Korea Open, beating some of the top 10 pairs.

It's true that they were a bit inconsistent in the first half of this year. But, they have improved tremendously since then, losing only seven matches up to today, to Anthony Clark/Robert Blair (in the All England and World Championships), Tony Gunawan/Candra Wijaya (in the Indonesia Open and Korea Open), Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah (Asian Championships), Hendri Kurniawan Saputra/Hendra Wijaya (Singapore Open), and Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun (World Cup group games).

They have beaten almost all the pairs in the top 10 and only have a bad record against Anthony Clark/Robert Blair (I dunno for wat reason) for top 10 pairs. They have perfect records against Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari/Lin Woon Fui, and Gan Teik Chai/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif, which are arguably their top opponents for the next 5-7 years!

So, it takes them 2 years to win the World Championship....in only their second attempt. Not a bad record eh

Bingo....hopefully that will be corrected next year
In their first All England in 2006, they went down tamely to Anthony Clark/Robert Blair 11-15, 8-15 in the round of 32. The same old pair beat them in their first World Championships last year 21-15, 16-21, 17-21.

In their second All England this year, they surprisingly lost to a new pair Han Sang Hoon/Cho Gun Woo in two tight sets 20-22, 19-21 in the round of 16; despite an impressive victory over Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen in the first match.

With a kind draw, hopefully, they will win the All England and the Olympics Gold next year, which would be their next big targets apart from winning back the Thomas Cup

For the remaining of the year, they should be in the Super Series Finals and a victory there would be nice too.

In their second All England this year, they surprisingly lost to a new pair Han Sang Hoon/Cho Gun Woo in two tight sets 20-22, 19-21 in the round of 16; despite an impressive victory over Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen in the first match.

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Han/Cho were pretty impressive in All-England, Koo/Tan had to take 52 minutes to subdue them in 2 straight games. It was their most difficult match the whole tournament.

Anyway, I hope Markis/Hendra have found the belief to be consistent in the future tournaments. The same thing that has been lacking in Koo/Tan.

Most importantly, need to maintain superiority over the CHN MD, who are now no pushovers with 2 strong pairs.

Actually, I didn't think that Kido-Setiawan would be the new World Champs. I thought it would be KKK-TBH or FHF-CY OR JJS-LYD!! But I guesss it's a good change. WC are most of the time unpredictable anyway..........

..but IMO, the turning point was their win over their veteran counterparts in Tony & Candra, in the QF. IMO, it really boosted their confidence and perhaps propelled them to their new status. Imagine going into the Semifinals playing against the homecrowd favorite & M'sia's last hope in LeeWW & ChoongTF, yet the young INA pair was able to keep their poise and won in straight sets, with a couple of lucky breaks here & there, even after they trailed in the 1st and 2nd sets..

Yup, the match with LWW/CTF would have been more worthy as a final instead of semifinal. In the end, Markis/Hendra had the edge in energy, tactics, and most importantly, less pressure.

But I was really surprised that Candra/Tony surrendered so easily. Candra/Tony didn't look like themselves these past few tournaments, surprising when they've been regularly making semifinals earlier in the year. They are about the same age as CTF/LWW.

IMHO... MD players does not as consistent as previous great.. In this 21 points system. Even A simple fault/lousy serve could cost them dearly !
In the first half of 2007. It was the MAS pair of KKK/TBH who stole the limelight ; while in the middle of this year, Feng Yun rise to the occasion.
Then, to the surprise of many of us.. Markis/Kido suddenly defy all odds & win the WC.
LD is the only one players who really able to stands up tall in the new 21pps. The rest of the field looks unstable & prompt to suffer slump of their form at anytime of the year..

isn't MS is the field where the champions was keep changing from tournament to tournament ?

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Lin Dan is perhaps the most consistent player in the badminton arena now. Even when he fails to win a tournament, he usually loses in the later stages. A look at his ranking points substantiate this claim. His lead over his closest competitor is far larger than the #1's of other events.

If I were them, I would treat CTF/LWW KFC drumstick for clearing CY/FHF for them and later lose closely to them.

Congrats to their rising and hope they bring more good games to us. I vote the semifinal MD games between MK/HS and CTF/LWW is the match of the tournament. Men doubles getting more exciting now because of the standards of the top 5-6 teams are so so close. Bring on the next tournament already.

LD is the only one players who really able to stands up tall in the new 21pps. The rest of the field looks unstable & prompt to suffer slump of their form at anytime of the year..

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I agree with this statement. At the moment, only Lin Dan looks almost certain to claim the gold in the Olympics, unless players like Taufik Hidayat or Lee Chong Wei rise up to the occassion.

In the WS, we see older players like Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang suddenly become vulnerable and losing recent matches against non-Chinese oppositions.

In the WD, I believe CHN will win it, but, it can be from any pair Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen and Gao Ling/Huang Sui look the safest bet.

MD and XD are probably the most open events ANY PAIR who is in form during the Olympics can just nick the titles. Reputation does not matter Remember Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min and Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen? They were the top seed, but, ended up losing pretty early in the Olympics

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